


Pondovadia: Be Part of the Wave, Can't Stop

by Cherry_Bomb_Bees



Series: Pondovadia [2]
Category: Original Work, Pondovadia
Genre: 50s Greasers, Ableism, Auctions, Bechdel Test Pass, Bigotry & Prejudice, Breaking and Entering, Brian Swords of York, Bullying, Funeral Fight, Furry, Ho Yay, Minor Character Death, Other, Pen Pals, Private School, References to Duran Duran, School Dances, Sneaking Out, Speciesism, Unfamiliar Territory, Wakes & Funerals, children fighting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 16,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28782618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherry_Bomb_Bees/pseuds/Cherry_Bomb_Bees
Summary: It's a new semester at Southwest Pondovadia Middle School, and that brings new challenges for our protagonists. From an aloof penpal who never writes, to species history and questioning your own existence, Bell and her friends can handle everything life throws at them. Hopefully.
Series: Pondovadia [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1762597
Kudos: 1





	1. Do You Feel like a Chain Store

**Author's Note:**

> Happy 2021 everyone! I spent a lot of my winter break working on this chapter, and hopefully y'all will enjoy it too!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What's in store with the Pondovadia kids today? New friends? New enemies?

January 13, 302X

Southwest Pondovadia Middle School. Six hundred and twenty eight students spread out through three grade levels, mascot is the Mighty Meteors. A new superintendent, a bluestripe snapper by the name of Neil Cobalt, has just started his new term. Anyways, what are the students up to after their long winter break?

—

9:30 AM

The trio were sitting in their homeroom and huddled up together. They were holding their phones and looking at each others' screens.  
“Not again” Ponce groaned as he compared schedules with Bell and Toshi. The disappointment hit him like a baseball bat to the testicles.

“Yeah, it’s true. None of us have any classes together” Bell frowned. “But look! At least we still have homeroom together”

“At least you two don’t have to retake anything” Toshi shuddered. “I was two points away from passing general math! Everything else was all B’s and one C+ and here it is, the kick in the balls of a grade that calls itself a D+. All that tutoring for nothing…”

“Well look at the bright side” Bell patted his shoulder as she tried to reassure him. “You have a different teacher this time!”

“What does _that_ have to do with math?” Ponce asked her.

The beaver explained to her friends

“My sister said that if you have a different teacher when you retake a class, there’s a ninety seven percent chance you’ll pass on the second try”

“Yeah, but that’s _college_ level stuff” Toshi snarked back. “We don’t have to worry about that for a few years”

The white bulldog walked into the classroom. She sat down and opened her laptop up

“Alright kids, welcome back to a new semester” Ellie started off her homeroom greeting. “So uhhhh Principal Cinnamon insisted that I ask what all did you get into over winter break?”

Tobias eagerly raised his left claws. He stood on the tips of his toes as he tried to capture his teacher's attention.

“Yes, Tobias?” Ellie asked him.

“I went to Arizona to see family,” the scorpion told everyone. “And we ate my grandma’s tamales”

“Sounds fun! I’ve never been to that state, Tobias” the bulldog cracked a small smile. “Anyone else?”

“My older twin sisters both graduated from Mon Uni, miss!” Leila called out. “And we went to Louisiana to celebrate with my grandparents!”

Ellie asked her 

“Very interesting. What were their majors?” 

“International economics and sports communication media!” the dolphin eagerly chirped. “And I want to go into geology someday!”

“Geology’s always a fun major. Anybody else?” the bulldog asked the rest of the class. “Come on, somebody?”

The class was silent. Everyone looked around awkwardly at each other. Fuck, someone needs to take the bull by the reigns and speak up already.

“Fine, I’ll pick someone” Ellie got up. “Bell, what did you get into?”

Bell gulped. It’s one thing if she volunteered, but this was not it. Great, now everybody’s staring at her like a hawk eyeing up its dinner.

“I- I met the mayor!” she blurted out. “It turns out he’s my father!”

The class gasped in surprise. 

“Ooooh, that’s super awesome!” Sandyna gushed. “Hey maybe you could be the Pondovadia mayor someday too! Oh my gosh, I know! We could get you running for class president this year! I don’t think we had that yet, did we? Ooo, I know! I could get Violet to make us the CUTEST stickers, and I can be your vice class president, and we could make slogans and hand out candy and—“

“Sandyna!” Leila nudged and reprimanded her. “Only eighth graders can run for class president! But yeah. That’s awesome, Bell!”

The beaver started to blush. “Uh, thanks y’all” she awkwardly chuckled. She didn’t think her classmates would be _that_ interested in her newfound heritage. Personally she thought it was kinda underwhelming, but disappointing her classmates would suck big time.

The bell rang.

“Well, see you kids tomorrow!” Ellie waved to the students as they rushed out of the door, looking for the first period.

Bell checked her schedule— huh, Pondovadia Communication with Mrs. Wilson. Now _that’s_ a class she didn’t know existed! I guess Klarisse insisted on her taking it this early...

She walked into one of the classrooms. A few students were already seated, none of them familiar to her. Yep, this is the room. Every seat had a small blue and yellow tag in front. 

Bell grabbed her seat— sweet, it’s closest to the door. She set her Mon Uni drawstring backpack down next to her seat and got comfortable.

A pink koala walked into the room next. She was looking down at the floor the whole time. Her hair was black and tied into a high messy bun. The doe was wearing a fluffy oversized striped purple sweater dress, black tights and white fluffy ankle boots. She took her seat next to Bell. The koala pulled her phone out and texted some of her friends.

The beaver glanced over at the nametag. The koala’s name was Kylie. I don’t think I had her in any of my classes, Bell thought to herself. But there was a different pink koala she knew about last semester-- apparently his name was Sid. Could they be related? Nah. Let’s just leave her be…

A few minutes passed. Most of the other animals had already gotten to their seats. Nineteen seats filled up.

The door swung wide open. Great, just fucking great. What a way to ruin a class that didn’t even start yet.  
It was _Beatrice_. She held her head up high as she walked her way inside and took her seat in the back. She scoffed and sneered at everyone.  
"Ugh," she bitterly complained. "Why do _I_ have to share this class with a _bastard_?!"

While most of the students were minding their own business, Bell turned around and glared.  
"Ex-CUSE me?!" she snarled.

"What?" Beatrice scoffed. "Bastard say something?"

"Why do YOU have such a problem with me being a bastard?!" the beaver called her out. "It's not like either of my parents ruined your parents' marriage"

"It doesn't have anything to do with that, you idiot" the mongoose held her nose up high. "I just think it's gross! Most animals know that illegitimate children are terrible animals who ruin society for us _normal_ animals. You'd understand if you weren't acting like a twelve year old"

Bell facepalmed.  
"I _am_ twelve, you dumbass. What's YOUR excuse?" she flipped her off before heading back to her desk. "And besides, at least MY dad only sleeps with people over eighteen!" she shouted back.

Some of the students choked on their own laughter while Beatrice was fuming from the nerve of that bastard.

A few minutes passed after the scuffle. Some animals were reading on their laptops and phones while others were fidgeting to themselves.

“Hey where’s Mrs. Wilson at?” one of the students, a vampire bat, called out.

“She might’ve quit” another animal, a bright red ladybug, hollered back.

The door swung open again. A tall pretty silver barracuda walked inside. She was wearing a black turtleneck sweater, white high waisted pants, blue glasses and blue kitten heels. Her hair was dark green and tied into a braid reaching her shoulders.

“Hello, class!” she eagerly greeted everyone. “Thank you for being patient with me. My name’s Mrs. Wilson and I’ll be your teacher this semester. Let’s introduce ourselves first before we get into the meat of this semester. Who wants to go first? Anyone?”

A bumblebee in the back raised her hand.

“Me!”

“You first” Mrs. Wilson clasped her fins together in excitement. 

“Well, uh…..” the bee looked down at the ground. “I’m Daisy Bombini and uhh…. My mom is, she’s an English teacher at Mon Uni and I play trombone after school… Am I done yet?”

“If you are, then yes” the barracuda grinned a pretty sharp smile. “Lovely introduction, Daisy. Anyone else?”

Bell shot her paw up first. Beatrice raised her paw higher and nearly fell off her desk.

“Hmm, Bell is it?” Mrs. Wilson looked over at Bell. “What’s your life story?”

Beatrice sneered and complained

“Um, I raised my hand first. You only picked her because her dad’s the mayor”

The fish got excited “Oh! Mayor Candendrum’s your father?” 

“Yeah!” Bell perked up. “I’m Bell Woodrow, and I’m Mayor Canadendrum’s daughter!”

“Goodness, we got some authority in the class” Mrs. Wilson laughed in amusement. “Well make sure I say hello when you see him!”

The clock droned on as the rest of the class introduced themselves. It was the last student’s turn.

“Finally” the mongoose scoffed. She droned on as the rest of the class watched carelessly “I’m Beatrice Neruda, I’m a vegan, and my father sells real estate to animals of high class, you know, like the mythicals”

“Real estate? Very interesting” Mrs. Wilson nodded. “Anyways, for our major assignment this semester. Each of you is going to be assigned a penpal from another school district in Pondovadia— Yes?”

Daisy had raised her left hands in curiosity

“Are they sixth graders too?” 

“Yes, Daisy, they will be,” the barracuda explained. “Our goal in this class is to expand our horizons and learn about the rest of Pondovadia beyond this school district. I’ll be handing out the name, contact information and district of your assigned student today. The bell’s about to ring, so we’ll discuss the rest of our assignment tomorrow”

She started to send out emails to the students, containing all the information they needed. And then the bell rang violently.

—-

12:05 PM

“Did either of y'all get your pen pal yet?” Bell asked her friends as they sat down together for lunch. She was cracking open an energy drink and twirling her fork in the carbonara dish before her.

“No, I don’t have communications until fifth period” Ponce shook his head.

“And I have it at seventh,” Toshi groaned. “I wish the day would be over already”

“Hm” Bell laid her chin on her right paw. “I have communications for first period, and I already got mine”

Ponce asked her “Who is it?”

“Some guy named Francis Pastello” Bell kept looking at her laptop. “All I know about him is that he’s an armadillo that goes to Northeast”

“Hm. I just hope I get somebody nice” Toshi shrugged. He began to gnaw on his flavorless sandwich. 

Meanwhile, over at Northeast Pondovadia Middle…

A pink fairy armadillo focused as he squinted at the black dartboard. He took two steps backward before he threw the dart. He eagerly yelled once the dart landed right in the middle.

“Eyyyy” he grinned as he fixed up his pinkish-brown pompadour. “Anotha round won!”

“Oh, come _on_ Francis” one of the other children, a bright blue kangaroo in a ripped up Union Jack tank top and torn black jeans with biker boots, shouted back. “You may be good, but I know you can’t beat my record”

“Uh, yeah I can Darwin!” Francis scoffed back. He picked up the rest of the darts. “I’ll show you!”

“Fellas! Fellas!” a reddish Chesapeake Bay retriever ran up barking to them. “My penpal, my penpal, she talked to me!! She even asked me out on a date tonight!”

“Aww, that’s nice Leopold'' Darwin patted his back. “Mine didn’t write back to me, what about yours, Francis?”

“Oh, I haven't written to her yet,” the armadillo said as he kept restyling his hair. “But yknow, I heard a rumor here that she’s the mayor’s kid, and I’m kinda intimidated. Guess I’ll wait on her to, er ah, write first”

"Don't be stupid, Francis" Darwin deadpanned. "Y'gotta write to her sometime or you'll bomb the class"

—-

3:45 PM

Bell, Ponce and Toshi sat together and hung out inside Toshi's bedroom. They read each other's assignments on their tablets.

“So, who did y’all get for penpals?” Bell asked as she began to write to Francis. The beaver was sitting in the hammock chair in the corner. Her socked feet pressed against the soft carpet.

“I got someone named Freida Flovski,” Ponce showed her his assignment. “Apparently she goes to North _west_ Middle. Her name sounds pretty interesting. I know it's Eastern European, but I'm not sure if it's Polish, German, or some other small country.”

Toshi sighed

“And I got some jerk from Allegory Academy…”

“That sucks” Bell frowned a bit. “How’d the hell did _that_ happen?”

“Apparently they ran out of students from the _other_ schools,” Toshi explained. “So they had to make an Allegory kid my penpal, all because I just had to have that class in seventh period.”

Back at Allegory Academy…

A black bear in a green academy uniform was sitting inside his dorm. His hair was short, brown and kinda greasy. His eyes were a cold shade of green and focusing on his academic studies. He adjusted his black glasses as he tried reading his English assignment.

Someone knocked loudly on the door.

“I’m BUSY!” the bear cub roared at the door. He slammed his books against the desk.

“Oh, um, sorry, is this a bad time, Frederick?” the other voice timidly asked. “I got us some bagels from that new bakery and I’m done with all my classes for the day”

“....Fine. You can come in, Rory” Frederick sighed in embarrassment. He wanted to plant his face in the books before him. 

The pale blue manticore opened the door wide open and strutted inside. He was in the same uniform as his roommate and was carrying a fresh bakery bag. His tail wrapped around the doorknob and tightly shut the door.

“So, how’d your first day here go?” Rory asked as he set down the bakery bag. He pulled out a poppy seed bagel from the box and devoured the whole thing in just three bites

“Awful. I want to die already” Frederick ranted as he tried to figure out what a peer-reviewed academic source is. “I don’t belong here.”

“Aw, but Frederick!” Rory tried to reassure him. “You’re just parroting what the other kids say about you. Heh, parroting. I've always wanted to meet a parrot for myself!”

“No. It’s true though” the bear buried his face in his paws. He didn’t bother taking off his glasses.  
“I’m a bear for crying out loud! And everyone here knows, animals like me don’t belong in this school. But my dad’s gone insane since my mom supposedly died in that flood last year, and so he threw me in here to deal with his OWN problems. I was supposed to be homeschooled in the first place, you know”

“There, there” Rory gently patted his back. “Hey maybe if you’re lucky, you could get your dad to pull you out of here! Have you tried just flunking out?”

“Yeah. A government official’s kid flunking out of school” Frederick deadpanned. “That’ll help his image and the rest of West Virginia”

"Is it any worse than adults who pay their way for their kids to get into expensive colleges though?" Rory pointed out. 

\----

4:30 PM

The trio sat down inside Ponce’s bedroom and opened up their laptops. Bell was already writing to her penpal. The letter read  
“Howdy Francis! The name’s Bell Woodrow. I’m the mayor’s daughter, I’m on defense on the Meteor hockey team (we’re off season though so no luck on watching any games this semester), I LOVE Blyned Jagwar and went to one of their concerts, and my half-sister goes to Mon Uni! So uhh what’s your life story?”

Toshi was snacking on some maple coated popcorn. 

“So what should we do tomorrow?” he asked before he stuffed his mouth full of the salty yet sweet snack.

Ponce was lying on his back and reading his letter from his penpal.

“Hey, I know! We could go meet our penpals, maybe”

“Yeah, _you two_ can go meet yours” Toshi said as he continued to snack. “I’m not meeting mine until I know first hand he’s not some stuck up jerk, my grade for this class is at stake, OR I’m threatened at gunpoint.”

“Have you tried asking Mrs. Wilson if you can switch penpals?” Ponce asked him. “Some kid in my class, Geddy I think, it turns out HIS penpal died over the winter break and they forgot to delete his data off the list, so they had to get him a new one from a different school”

“Hm...no I didn’t try that” Toshi shook his head.

Bell’s ears perked up  
“Huh? A kid died over winter break? How’d that happen?”

Ponce tried to recall what happened

“I think another mythical attack? Y’know, they’ve been getting even worse here in West Virginia”

"Like how much worse?" Bell asked him.

The chimera pulled up a news site. Oh, right, he forgot to change it from Spanish to English. He changed the language setting quick then sent her the link.

Bell cringed and read through the site-- seven mythical on common attacks in the past month, two fatalities so far. Yikes.

"I don't think it's a coincidence" Bell shook her head. "If y'all ask me something is causing all these mythicals to attack us"

\----

January 14

7:15 AM

Frederick was trying to keep himself awake as his teacher droned on in front of him. He had a tall reusable bottle on his desk filled with white chocolate cappuccino from the breakfast menu. The bear opened his bottle and sipped from it before putting it back down.

“Now, despite what the dense commoners say about this book” the stoic quetzalcoatl droned on. “Atticus Finch is clearly in the wrong, while the townsfolk were obviously right. Tom Robinson obviously attacked poor Mayella. Anyone have anything else to say? Anyone? I know it's early but we gotta go through with this if you want to be better than the commoners” He called out to his students  
“Fine. Frederick, why do _you_ think Atticus Finch is doing the wrong thing?”

The bear gulped and looked around. His classmates were giving him stares that could freeze even the burning hell of Death Valley.

“B-because humans are inherently messed up creatures who show too much empathy for the wrong person, Mr. Aquila?” the bear stammered.

Frederick wanted to throw up from the filth he was saying. Anything to keep him alive in his school, I guess...

“Hm” the quetzalcoatl solemnly nodded. “Excellent perspective, Frederick. You’re quite smart for a common animal. Moving on, who can tell me why Scout’s tomboyish behavior is a major character flaw that the author didn’t bother fixing?”

\---

11:30 AM

“Hey, I said let me sit down, Arthur!” Frederick barked at the older student. “Nobody else claimed this table, asshole!”

“Uhh, I claimed it before you even woke up” the bronze cockatrice scoffed back at him. “And if you don’t fuck off already, we’ll make your death look like an accident, you fucking fleabag”

He shoved Frederick out of his seat and blocked off the other seats with his massive wings. Arthur laughed as he took Frederick’s lunch for himself.

The bear sighed in defeat and went back to the boys’ bathroom for lunch. He locked the last stall and pulled out his phone. Huh, a notification in his email. 

“So hey penpal? I’m Toshiyuki Ikeda, and I’m from Southwest Middle. I tried convincing my teacher to change up my penpal assignment but she said that she’d only change it if you or I died somehow. If you’re gonna tell me to go fuck myself, I understand. We know all too well how you mythicals treat us common animals…”

Frederick swallowed his air and began to write back to him. His paws shook as he frantically typed away on his phone.

“Greetings, Toshiyuki. Yes, I am fully aware of the citywide sixth grade writing project. My father suggested it to me as a way to cope with some loss in the family. See, I lost my mother quite recently in that tragic Pondovadia flood. At least, that's what he told me. I’m not sure what species you are, but I’m not mythical in the slightest. I’m just an American black bear-- West Virginia’s former state mammal back in the human era. I must warn you though, my messages are quite sporadic, as we’re very strict on our phone usage here, so if you don’t hear from me for days, fret not. I suppose I’ll be writing back later then.

Frederick P. Morrigan”

\---

12:05 PM

Back at Southwest Middle...

“Hey, look!” Toshi turned his laptop around. “My penpal wrote back”

The other five animals kept eating as they read the wall of text in front of them. Bell was sipping from her energy drink while Benjamin snacked on some caramel filled chocolates. Chris and Aster were still eating their lunch and Ponce had just finished his.

“Interesting” Aster said once he finished his grilled vegetable medley. “Mine wrote back to me today too”

“Is she hot?” Chris asked as he set down his coconut milk.

Benjamin swatted the porcupine with one of his tentacles

“Chris, it doesn’t _matter_ what a girl looks like! Get your mind out of the gutter” he scolded. “But if anyone WAS curious, my penpal’s from Midwest Middle. She’s into seapunk too. Y’know, I asked her what kind of animal she was, but she didn’t tell me yet”

“Most likely a chimera” Ponce joined in. “Most of us just don’t go blabbing about our species to animals we didn’t meet physically yet.”

“Oh, wait, you’re not supposed to do that?” Aster tilted his head and lowered his ears. “Oops…”

“I mean, you’re all canine AND both your eyes are the same color, so it’s not that big of a deal” Ponce reassured him. “I’m five completely different species so I can’t do the same thing”

Bell perked up  
“Hey look, mine just wrote back too!”

She turned her laptop around as well and showed the letter to everyone else at the table. They read through the whole thing

\--

“Eyyyyy, Bell! It’s ya boy Francis. Sorey if I didn’t write back yestaday, the boys and I were gettin’ shakes and screwin’ round. Im pretty ‘xcited to meet the mayah’s bastard kid, the boys and I heard ya saved a buncha the Northeasters from, er ah, a broken ice rink. And screwed round in the, er, knot lake. How bout meetin me and the boys tomorrah at er Greased Up Lightnin! Drinks on me!

  
Ya boy,  
Francis”

\--

Chris handed Bell a small unopened square packet from his wallet. Bell looked confused as he put the orange square in her paw.  
“Here, you might need this!”

“Ewwww” Bell cringed, once she knew exactly what it was. “Wait, why do you have these on hand?!”

“No reason” the porcupine shifted his eyes away. His back spikes slowly retracted into him. 

Benjamin shook his head  
“Don’t ever change, Chris”

Over at one of the pharmacies nearby…

“Yknow these are too small” Francis shook his head as he looked at the varying condom sizes. Small, medium, large, extra large, the cervix popper.  
“I need a monstah”

Darwin held up a black and green energy drink can. “I gotta monster right here”

“Not THAT kind of monstah, Darwin! I need a gargantuan one, one that screams ‘i’m PACKING, boys’” the armadillo ranted. “Tha things a guy’s gotta do round here I swear”

“I don’t think y’all should be trying to screw the mayor’s daughter” the white tailed fawn harshly whispered to them. He was fixing up his stylish black undercut. "He might send his secret service on y'all over that"

“Ey, Johnny, don’t sweat it, we aint actually gonna FUCK her” Francis nudged his shoulder. “We’re only gonna make ‘er _think_ we screw ‘round, after THAT, we dump them on tha eighth graders for a couple bucks”

“Well if y’all insist, knock y’all selves out” Johnny shrugged. “Hey, wait a minute! Don't dump ME on the eighth graders!!”

He yelled as he chased his friend across the convenience store.

\----

January 15

2:35 PM

Bell was glancing down at her phone. She read Francis’s message at least twice now, stumped by this place she’d never been to before. Ponce and Toshi walked up to her.

“Do either of y’all know where the hell Greased Up Lightnin’ is?” she asked them. “I’ve never been anywhere near the damn Northeast district”

“I think I was there once, but it was pretty forgettable” Toshi shook his head. “Oh, wait, let me guess, _Francis_ wanted to finally meet you”

“......Yeah, he did.” Bell deadpanned. “So, do y’all wanna come along with me?”

“Sure” Ponce shrugged. “The Northeast district sounds pretty fun”

Twenty minutes later, the trio got on the school subway and headed their way to the Northeast district. The area was actually quite similar to Southwest. They walked around the area and looked at all the stores in the district. One of the buildings stood out in front of them-- Greased Up Lightnin’.

The place had a white exterior with a red stripe below the flashy logo on top. The trio ran towards the silver door and stormed inside the restaurant.

The diner’s decor was over the top. The floors were black and white in a peculiar checkerboard pattern, while the walls were plain white and covered in colorful framed posters. Neon LED lights hung from the ceiling. The booths and tables were bright red, along with all the counters.

“Ya here for anybody?” the greeter asked them. She was a grey pigeon in a red pinstripe diner uniform.

“Yea” Bell shook her head. “We’re looking for a Francis Pastello, y’all know him?”

“Eyyy!” a voice called from one of the seats.

“Do I know him?” the pigeon cracked up. “The damn kid’s here all the time! Table seven”

“Thanks!”

Bell and her group dashed off to the seventh table and saw several animals seated there. There was a pink and yellow armadillo, a blue kangaroo and a white tailed deer. They were dressed a bit similarly. 

“Eyy, ya guys could make it! Sweet!” Francis hollered and waved to them. He was dressed in a pastel pink short sleeved collared shirt, a black waistcoat, white pants, and black and pink biker boots. He had a black backpack next to him that was covered in pastel pink pins.

The trio got seated on the other end. 

“Yep. So how’d y’alls week go, Francis?” Bell asked them while Ponce and Toshi looked at the menu on their phones. They whispered to each other.

“Could be bettah'' Francis explained as he fixed up part of his pompadour. “We had a ‘morial service for some kid in our class. Think she killed erself if I ‘membah right”

“That’s….harsh” Ponce shuddered. “Oh, I’m Ponce by the way”

“Nice meetin’ ya Poncey boy'' Francis shook his paw. “Dig the style, by the way”

“Oh, thanks man!” Ponce was pleased by the friendliness of this new kid. He pointed at the large pompadour nestled atop Francis’s head. “Does that take a while to do?”

“This ol thing?” Francis shook his head. “Nah, just three hours and a, er ah, ton a spray”

Toshi looked up from his menu

“So are we finally ordering some drinks or what?”

Darwin laughed

“Quick service? In tha afternoon? I think yinz here got confused with ‘nother place, sweetie”

Toshi glanced down in embarrassment as he hid his mouth with his scarf. The ONE day he didn’t tie his hair back and this happens.

“Oh don’t sweat it babydoll. So how’d a total knockout of a gal like you met these two?” the kangaroo had a paw behind his head.

The group went quiet. 

“....Darwin, ya knucklehead!” Francis nudged his friend on the upper arm. “Toshi's a dude!”

“Yeah, Darwin!” Bell snorted a bit. “I guess y’all don’t read each others’ penpal emails there”

“Nah” the armadillo shook his head. “The last kid here who tried that, think he sent his penpal one of em dick pics. Think he got ‘spended too.”

One of the waitresses, a black and grey bufflehead duck, walked up towards the table.

“So” she asked the children. “What can I get you today?”

“Well” Francis said as he fixed up his pompadour yet again. “How bout the usual for-ah me n the boys, and a house shake special for tha newbies”

“Comin’ right up” the waitress chirped before she walked back to the kitchen and hollered

“One Pastello usual and three of the house shake specials!”

“It wasn’t a dick pic, Francis!” Johnny finally spoke up for once. “If anything, Blake said he was GONNA send one to her. And y’all know he’s a fuckin’ liar!”

"Yinz are only saying Blake's a liar because he's a pit bull" Darwin snarked back. 

"Eyy man" Francis barked back. "Blake's a good bro, BUT he still owes me thirty dollahs over that bet we made last week!"

Bell, Ponce and Toshi looked at each other in confusion. A pit bull?

"What KINDA bet?" Ponce asked the trio.

Francis shook his head  
"Not a big one Poncey boy, just a bet on if diet pop and some ments will mess ya guts up for the day!"

The waitress finally showed up with a large tray of drinks. There was a tall egg cream, an ice cream soda with a spider drawn on in chocolate syrup, a strawberry cream soda, and three chocolate maple gradient shakes.

Francis handed her his card and thanked her as she set the drinks down. 

"So tell me fellas" the armadillo asked his new friends. "Best place in Southwest for the munchin?"

"Honestly? Ponce's kitchen" Bell pointed out. "We don't really have much in the way for restaurants there, so we usually go to other districts for food"

\----

4:30 PM

Frederick hollered as he jumped up to reach for something.

“Give it back already, assholes!”

“Oh, I don’t THINK so!” the dark green Ness monster laughed as he effortlessly pushed him down. “Kepler, throw it out the window already!”

“With pleasure, Zeu” Kepler, a grey and white hippocampus, flashed a toothy grin before opening the window and throwing a phone out the window. The two mythicals laughed in amusement 

“You….you FUCKING DICKHEADS!” Frederick screamed at his tormentors. “I didn’t do anything to either of you!”

“Oh get over it” Zeu rolled his eyes. “It’s just a phone. I break at least seven of those things in a semester”

Frederick wriggled out from under Zeu’s grip and furiously stormed back to his dorm.

“What a pussy,” Kepler laughed.

“Yeah” Zeu laughed as he did a shitty impression of Frederick. “Waaaa my mom’s DEAD and I can't afford to replace my phone!!”

The bear cub opened his school books up and began to read from them. He sighed

“Rory…. Can I borrow your laptop for a bit?”

“Oh?” Rory’s ears were raised. “What happened? Do you not have one?”

“No, I don’t…” the bear wrapped himself up in several blankets. “I couldn’t afford a laptop for this semester AND some of the upperclassmen threw my phone out the window. I can’t even afford to replace my phone anyways, even IF I got the best scholarship in the entire state...”

“That sucks” the manticore frowned. He was making another account on his laptop “But sure, you can borrow my laptop for a bit”

“Thanks” Frederick sighed. “You’re the only one here who doesn’t wanna make me blow my brains out”

He started to write his final letter for a while.

“Salutations, Toshiyuki. I’m afraid to tell you that starting in a few weeks, I won’t be as available for communication. See, some of the pricks in this hellhole of a private school, they destroyed my phone just to see me humiliated. You may ask yourself ‘just get a new one’, but unfortunately, I cannot afford a new phone as easily as you think. My father’s been saving our finances for a while, and a new phone is out of the question. If I'm lucky, I might get a new stepmother with the same amount of finances. I hope we can communicate again, but fret not. I’ll be alive, hopefully... If not, please come to my memorial service and help spread my ashes through Pondovadia. 

Frederick P. Morrigan”


	2. See a Little Better, Any Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang meets Frederick in person for the first time.

January 17

9:15 AM

Toshi opened his laptop and read the letter he received from Frederick. He had already read it five times, but the brutality of the bear’s letter still hit like a flyswatter. He didn’t write back yet, not that it mattered since Frederick wouldn’t be able to communicate for weeks anyways. It’d be like trying to find gold in the California rivers. No, wait, finding gold would be easier.

Ponce and Bell leaned over in curiosity to see what he was reading.

“...This poor kid” Toshi sighed to himself as he finished reading the letter. “And I thought Minthe had things rough”

“Yeah, that does suck” Bell frowned a bit. “Maybe we could find a way to get into the academy and break Frederick out for the day!”

The ferret rolled his eyes  
“And deal with mythicals trying to kill us over trespassing? No thank you”

“Yeah, but” Ponce pointed out “we haven’t been inside before! There could be all sorts of stuff we haven’t seen before! Like human artifacts or rare plants or maybe a dead body!”

“OR animals that will murder us in cold blood,” Toshi deadpanned. 

\----

Back over at Allegory Academy…

“Now who can tell me a chemical difference between butter and margarine from the human era? Anyone?” the teacher, a red phoenix, called out to the class. Some students were busy writing on their tablets while others were ignoring his lecture. A few kids were even getting into online discourse with adults twice their age instead of focusing on their work.

Frederick raised his hand as high as he could.

“Come on, somebody has to know the difference between butter and margarine!” the phoenix called out. Finally. He saw a student who seemed interested in basic food chemistry for once.

“Alright Frederick, what’s one key difference between both spreads?”

The bear’s eyes lit up in excitement. Finally, he could get a shred of validation for the day!

“Well Mr. Bertuch, butter is a minimally processed product made by only churning cream and salt, while margarine takes at least seven steps to hydrogenate oil AND was banned by the W.H.O. in 2200!”

Some of the students rolled their eyes and scoffed to themselves, while others were too involved in online discourse to even care about what was going on. A few of them just kept their mouths shut and continued to obediently take their notes.

“Yes, good, Frederick” Bertuch nodded. “Excellent job mentioning the twenty-third century ban. Would anyone else care to tell us why the ban was necessary? Come on, anyone?"

\-----

12:05 PM

The trio ate lunch while reading on their school laptops. Bell turned around to hear clunky heels clicking against the tiled floors. This is just _fantastic_ , she thought to herself.

“Sooo, Toshi is it, can we switch penpals?” Beatrice begged her classmate with desperation in her cold brown eyes. “Mine won’t write back to me, and I heard from the teacher that you got someone from Allegory Academy”

“Fuck off Beatrice” Toshi nonchanlantly told her off as he did some research on his laptop.

“H-hey!” the mongoose snapped. “I tried to ask you for a small favor! You could’ve just said yes, you know.”

“And I told you to go bother somebody else” the ferret rolled his eyes. He was making a list of ingredients to get for ehomaki this year-- avocado, tamago, cucumber, shiitake mushroom.  
“Mrs. Wilson won’t let us switch penpals without her permission, you know”

“Ugh, fine” Beatrice scoffed and stormed off somewhere else. She muttered to herself “I’ll ask her myself, you jerk.”

The rest of the table was silent after the small argument. Ponce sipped at his chocolate milk while Toshi finished his list.

“What kind of commoner animal would benefit from siding with a mythical in the first place?” Bell was stumped. She crossed her arms in confusion. “Especially a kid like us!”

"You'd be surprised" Benjamin pointed out. "My dad knows animals who defend mythicals for sex, money, or both"

\----

3:45 PM

The trio was spending an average Tuesday afternoon in Toshi’s bedroom. They were crowded around the ferret’s laptop and lying on the rug.

“So it looks like we need uniforms to get inside,” Bell said as she looked on Allegory Academy’s website. The pastel green and white website had several links-- some of them featured staff and their credentials while others showed honor roll for their students.  
Allegory was a lot smaller than she had imagined-- only around twenty students per grade? Both the elementary schools she went to were way bigger-- forty five in Oakland and seventy eight in Garregheny. 

“Yeah but” Toshi shook his head. “where the hell _are_ we going to find some around here?”

“The internet?” Ponce pointed out the obvious.

“Oh. Right”  
Toshi got back on his laptop and looked up school uniforms online. What the hell?! Brand new Allegory Academy uniforms go into the hundreds?! He opened up another tab-- apparently most mythicals just throw out their old uniforms instead of donating it somewhere like a rational animal would. He’d have to dig around one of the thrift stores.

“Huh. Toshi, let me see that quick!”

Bell cringed as she read a PDF of the Allegory uniforms.

“‘Female students will be held to high femininity regulations’ -- shoulder length hair at minimum, pushup bras only under the uniform, makeup is mandatory, thigh high stockings only even in winter, no shorts allowed under the skirt, all shoes must have a minimum of two inch heels… I thought this was a private school, not a fashion show!” 

“All those requirements are pretty archaic” Ponce shook his head. “Like I get not wearing clubbing stuff to school but this is ridiculous”

“Enough, you two!” Toshi called out. He searched for ‘pondovadia raffle events’ and found several in the area-- one on the outskirts at Lake of the Unknown Knotts, one for kitchenware from a small restaurant going out of business, and a historical one at the Mon Uni campus. He clicked on the link to the historical auction.

Ponce read through the link

“Join us at the Mon Uni downtown campus this Friday for a historical themed auction, hosted by Mr. Hollenoat. You know, this might just work!”

\---

January 21

2:45 PM

Bell and her friends sprinted towards the Mon Uni subway and hopped onto the first car going to the downtown campus. They caught their breath as they sat down in their seats. Toshi pulled out his phone and checked the screenshot he saved-- yep, the historical raffle’s still at four. 

The trio leapt out of the subway car and dashed out of the station without a care. They saw several adult animals walking towards a Greco-Roman built university building. Hm. Ponce saw a gold and blue sign that read “COUNTRY ROADS HISTORICAL AUCTION”. A-ha!

They ran inside and took their seats in the far back of the auditorium. Most of the animals there were busy talking to one another over glasses of wine and charcuterie boards. 

Bell whispered to both of them

“So who’s gonna be buying the uniforms IF they’re here?”

Ponce patted her on the shoulder

“Trust me, Bell, I got this. I already told my dad last night I’d be here, and he just said to have fun and get something nice”

She sighed in relief afterwards. Klarisse would be busy with grading some tests tonight so there was nothing to worry about.

The raffle started up. A coelacanth in a black business suit stood behind the podium on the stage, while an aqua colored manticore took a seat behind all the . He cleared his throat before shooting off his introduction

“Welcome everyone to the annual Country Roads Historical Auction. We got a lot of prized historical items up today, some of which even dating from the human era!”

A few animals went “Oooo” at the mere mention of human artifacts. The trio kept quiet, not wanting to stand out from the rest of the crowd.

“Our first item is this recreation of a fine 1982 art piece, yes this is all oil painting on real canvas” the fish held up a painting of a beautiful woman against a maroon background. She had a captivating smile painted in red lipstick, light yellow eyes with thick eyeliner, silky black hair flowing in the wind, triangular purple earrings, and ghostly white skin. “Do I hear a thirty five?”

Several animals started to shout prices.

“Forty!”  
“Fifty!”  
“Eighty!”

The fish slammed his fin against the podium. He eagerly shouted

“Going once, going twice, SOLD to the nautilus in aisle five!”

“Yes!” the red and white mollusc cheered to himself. His tentacles wriggled in excitement as he was handed the eighties themed painting. 

“Our second item is a sensual painting called Stay Up Late, portraying two lovers at their most intimate” the coelacanth lifted up an interesting watercolor painting from the 1990s. The picture showed two white rats embracing each other on the edge of a grey bed. “I hear an eighty in the audience?”

“Eighty five”  
“Ninety five!”  
“Ninety nine”  
“Ninety nine and fifty cents!”

“One hundred and one”

“101? Going once, going twice-”

“One hundred and _five_ ” a smug frilled shark boldly declared as she stood up. She was wearing a white hat with a big blue flower, a long blue dress and a matching flower pinned to her chest.

“105, SOLD to the frilled shark of aisle three!” 

The shark smiled a toothy grin as she received her watercolor painting. 

“And to mix things up” the living fossil fish flashed another cheery smile to the two camera monkeys in the back. He pulled out a cardboard box with ‘UNIFORMS’ written in marker on the top. “Three medium male Allegory Academy uniforms, unused and washed. Do I hear a five?”

“Ten!”

“Twenty!”

“Twenty five!”

“Twenty eight” 

“THIRTY!” Bell shouted at the top of her lungs. 

Ponce and Toshi tried to pull her down but failed. 

“Going once, going twice…”

“Thirty _two_!” Ponce shouted back. 

“Thirty-two and SOLD to the young chimera in the back! Congratulations, young man!”

Ponce beamed in happiness as he received the box of uniforms. 

“Our next item in question is this beautiful grand piano” another animal rolled out a gold and blue painted grand piano. “Yes, this is a twenty-nineth century piano customized by a Pondovadia local. Do I hear two hundred?”

“Two hundred fifty!”  
“Two hundred seventy five!”  
“Two hundred eighty five!”  
“Two ninety nine!”

“Nine THOUSAND!”

“Over nine THOUSAND?! You son of a bitch!” a komodo dragon punched a red headed elephant shrew over the over exaggerated bid. Several other animals joined the commotion. One of the canines bit another animal in the arm! 

“Fuck that noise” Ponce said as he dashed out of the auction booth. Bell and Toshi followed suit, not wanting any more of the commotion. 

The trio ran outside and into the Friday night streets. They ripped open the box together after escaping the chaos inside. They pulled out the three male uniforms and unfolded them. Bell lifted up one of the jackets and took a good look at it.

Ponce continued to look at his uniform-- yep, all the pieces are here. A forest green peacoat, a white button-up shirt, a green and white plaid tie, pants that matched the tie, plain white dress socks, and calf-high black riding boots. 

Toshi went into a nearby porta potty on the corner of the street and desperately changed into his uniform. The coat hung off his frame like a rag, but the rest of the uniform fit perfectly! Must’ve fit a larger animal at first, he thought. He stepped outside of the porta potty.  
"That was disgusting, but it fits great" he thought to himself. Bell and Ponce took their turns into changing into their uniforms as well. After everyone was properly dressed...

Bell saw a small section of hedge in the brick wall and pointed it out.

“Hey y’all, look at this! I bet there’s something cool behind this bush!” she hollered.

“Bush? Hell naw, I ain’t paying for no bush!” a brown chimpanzee hollered at an Adelie penguin standing on the corner of the street. He stormed off in disgust.

The trio stood still in silence. The _fuck_?

“Sure, what the heck” Ponce walked over to the hedge.

Bell and her friends crawled through the thick green hedge and tumbled out into an unfamiliar place. 

The area looked more historical compared to the rest of Pondovadia. Tall grey skyscrapers were replaced with simple white pillared buildings. Most of the buildings had overgrown vines wrapped around the white towering pillars. Not a single speck of snow was to be seen for yards. White picket fences framed around each yard. 

“I have a feeling we’re not in Pondovadia anymore” Ponce said as he got back on his feet. 

"We're still in Pondovadia, Ponce!" Toshi argued back. "Just not **this** neighborhood"

The kids saw several mythical animals their age walking through the area. Most of them were gossiping to each other. Bell took note of some of the girls-- their fashion was extremely familiar but she couldn’t figure out _why_. Wavy hair tied in high ponytails, white blouses with ribbons underneath the collars, short high-waisted black skirts, gray thigh high stockings, short white boots. The female school uniform, perhaps?

The girls sneered and giggled to themselves after they saw the unfamiliar kids near the hedge.

Bell, Ponce and Toshi ran off to another area, but the environment was still the same. It felt like a glitch in the system, but at least those snobs were gone for now. Huh? The trio saw more animals around the surrounding area. At least THESE ones were quiet and minded their own damn business.

\----

9:30 PM

The trio glanced around the private school. Allegory Academy’s courtyard was well cared for. The hedge mazes were neatly trimmed into a simple geometric square. Not a single branch or flower poked out of each shrub. 

They snuck into the bushy maze before them. They hid in the snow covered topiaries and glanced from the dense green leaves. The sky was pitch black yet filled with twinkling stars. 

“Which way should we go?” Bell whispered to her friends. 

Toshi brushed his tail against the stone pathway

“Left” he whispered back.

The three children crawled through the thick perennial plants. Ponce kept a continuous lookout for security cameras while Toshi led the way to the left wing. Bell plucked a few stray twigs and stashed them into her pockets. The trio reached the end of the maze and rolled out of the edge of the hedge. Their hair and fur were stained with dirt and snow after their little navigation.

They scaled up the white marble walls and peeked under each window. Most of the windows were neatly covered in plain black curtains.

“Which one IS he in?” Ponce harshly whispered to him.

“I don’t know” Toshi shushed back. “Just try the third one from the left”

Bell snuck under the window frame and peeked under the curtains. She saw two animals inside-- a blue furry creature of some kind, and a black bear cub.

“This is it” she whispered to them. “Should I break it open?”

“I got this” Ponce inched his way closer to the window. He wrapped one of his hands in cloth, then punched the window. Glass shattered and fell onto the ground beneath them. Surprisingly, nobody else was awake to hear the intrusion. 

The trio inched themselves closer to the broken window. Ponce shoved the window open and rolled inside the bedroom. Toshi and Bell followed suit and kept looking around.

“Just what in the HECK is going on?” a voice called out.

Uh-oh. Bell, Ponce and Toshi turned around to hear the male voice inside the room. They saw a tired looking black bear cub with messy brown hair and wearing a set of pale blue button up pajamas. He yawned as he rubbed his eyes

“Who ARE you three….”

The bear grabbed the blue glasses off his nightstand and put them on. He adjusted them to see the intruders in question. He saw three colorful animals around his age wearing green and white Allegory uniforms. Fuck, what does he say now?! His heart raced like a golden retriever chasing a tennis ball.

“Frederick, what’s going on?” the blue manticore groaned. He peeked out from under the plain white covers. 

“I don’t know, Rory” Frederick tried to explain. “Please go back to bed. I’ll explain everything in the morning”

“Well, if you say so” Rory sighed as he buried himself back under the covers.

Toshi looked over at the other animal.

“Hey wait a minute, you said all the other mythicals hated you. What about him?!” he pointed out.

Frederick slightly adjusted his glasses and sat back down.

“Rory doesn't count. He’s the only one here I _like”_ he looked away from everyone else. 

“But first, let me get this straight, you three snuck into mythical territory, risking your lives, just to check up on me?!”

“Pretty much” Toshi shrugged. He pointed over at Bell and Ponce. “Actually it was _their_ idea to go through with it”

“I--I...wow, just” the bear was still surprised. He sat back down on the bed and laid his chin in his palms. “You three are some crazy bastards”

“Well technically, Bell here’s the only bastard” Ponce pointed out. 

Bell nodded.  
“It’s true. Bastards do have more fun!”

“Is that so” Frederick gasped in surprise. “Wait, Bell? You mean, THE Isabell Canadendrum?”

The beaver glanced away  
“Well, Woodrow actually, but yes”

“Oh!” the bear gushed anyways. “Well, my father, the city head council, says Mayor Canadendrum’s been the best Pondovadia mayor in years!~”

“I- I mean, I only just found out he was my biological dad last month” Bell was still flustered. “Hell, I don’t even know if I’m supposed to change my last name yet”

“It’s fine, Bell!” Frederick was still beaming in excitement. “I just can’t believe this! My week started with my phone breaking, and now it ends with meeting one of the mayor’s kids! Did you meet any of the other ones yet? What are they like?”

Bell shrugged  
"No idea, y'all"

“So, what should we do now?” Toshi asked the group. 

“I mean, I wouldn’t mind going outside for once” Frederick pointed his index fingers together. “I don’t really get to do that anymore”  
"Sure!" Bell grabbed him by the paw. "Y"all can have fun in the rest of Pondovadia with us!"

"Well" Frederick flinched. "Let me get dressed first!"

\---

10:55 PM

An hour later, the trio were in the middle of one of the city parks. A family of fireflies and two owls walked down the streets, minding their own business. The small fountain was lit up with floating blue and yellow lights. Bell already took off her shoes and socks. She rolled her pants up to her knees and waded in the shallow water. The water was a comfortable temperature-- not scalding hot but not freezing cold either.

Frederick watched as everyone else removed their footwear and rolled their pants up. "Isn't that fountain cold?!" he was shocked.

"No, not really!" Bell shook her head and shouted as she splashed some water upwards. "The city heats it for any animal who needs it!"

"Is that so?" Frederick went barefoot and slowly dipped his feet into the warm water. He tensed up slightly from the heat. "You weren't kidding!"  
The bear cub removed his glasses and tucked them into his jacket. He zipped up the pocket before dipping his hands into the water. 

"Heads up!" Toshi called out before playfully splashing Frederick's head. 

"Hey!" Frederick laughed before pelting water back at him. 

Ponce stopped for a minute and plucked something out of the water. It was a small copper green penny.  
"They say if you throw this in the fountain and make a wish, it'll come true"   
He handed it to Frederick. Toshi and Bell crowded around and watched as Frederick held the small coin in his pocket.

"Oh, well, thank you" the bear cub smiled a bit.

" _I wish I could hang out with these three again_ " he thought to himself before he tossed the penny back in. The water made a slight pop, just as the city bell rang through the sky.

\---

January 22

7:15 AM

"So who were those three from last night?" Rory asked his roommate as he changed into a white and blue hoodie and black sweatpants. 

"Oh those three?" Frederick explained as he stretched from his bed. "The ferret's my penpal and the other two are his friends"

"Awww" the manticore groaned. "I wish I wasn't half asleep last night... No, seriously, I've always wanted to see more common species!"

"You do?" Frederick asked him.

"Yeah!" Rory perked up. "There's so many kinds out there! I couldn't figure out what the yellow one was though...A turtle?"

"No, I think a chimera" the bear shook his head. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uh college's been tough and I had burnout for a while due to it, that's why the chapter's shorter than usual. Anyways, enjoy the new chapter y'all!


	3. If You’re On Your Own in This Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klarisse braves the toxic environment of Oakland once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also content warning BUT there'll be harsher language in this chapter than most chapters. This is due to the political environment of Oakland to contrast Pondovadia. Also, I'm on the autism spectrum so I can reclaim the slurs used here.

January 25

4:44 AM

Vincent Woodrow looked at the files before him. He cringed in disgust from the piles of paper overflowing his desk-- so many needy bitches wanting money for the dumb kids that were alledgly his. 

“They shouldn’t have got themselves pregnant in the first place” he sneered to himself in disgust. DNA tests were for those sleazy Pondovadia types, the cobalt beaver thought to himself. Just like the bastard who slept with his whore wife and gave her that kid he didn’t want around in the first place! He had an idea-- you don’t have to pay for child support if you’re not alive! He grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled on it in bright blue ink--

“If you find this note, then unfortunately for me, I’m dead. In my will, I leave my house to my eldest brother Dennis and my money towards my second older brother Mac. Charlie, my younger brother, may possess my lifetime collection of moonshine and whiskey. When the moment comes that you three may die, do NOT give any of my inheritance to your wives AND daughters or they’ll use it to their own advantage.

Also fuck you Alice, you and the other sluts I slept with are getting NOTHING in this will! Klarisse, sweetie, I would’ve given you something, but seeing that you just HAD to move to Pondovadia with Alice’s bastard kid….. Just buy yourself a dildo for all I care! At least marry a nice beaver for me, won't ya? I don't want my grandkids turning out mutts!!

Vincent Woodrow”

Vincent grabbed a black glock from his desk. He loaded the magazine with a chamber of bullets. The beaver turned the gun around and held it to the side of his head. 

“Fuck everyone else” he whispered to himself as he pulled the trigger.

A loud bang echoed through the small neighborhood of six houses. 

\---

12:15 PM

“Mom? What’s going on?” Klarisse asked her over the phone. She paced back and forth in the living room. “What? He’s- he’s GONE? What the fuck do you MEAN he’s gone!!! No. No. It- it can’t be. I. Mom, can I-- can I call you back?”

The young woman hung up immediately and threw her phone on the couch. She reached for a bottle of vodka and cracked it open before she guzzled a few ounces down without stopping. Her insides were on fire but at this point, she didn’t give a shit about how anything felt. She was lucky that Bell was off hanging out with some friends that day before breaking the news to her.

\----

3:05 PM

“Mom, please! I’m not taking Bell to the funeral” Klarisse hollered on the phone. “For fuck’s sake, he’s not even _her_ father! Do you KNOW the kind of trouble I’d be in if they see her there! She’s old enough to make tough decisions for herself! I know you miss Bell but you can see her another day!”

Bell unlocked the apartment door and quietly snuck inside. She went inside her bedroom and unpacked the contents of her backpack. What the _hell_ is Klarisse talking about, the young girl thought to herself. She took out her laptop and plugged it in to charge.

“Mom, listen to me already” Klarisse snapped. “ _Vincent_ has always been a dick to Bell because he KNOWS he’s the reason you even had that one night stand with the mayor. If I take Bell to a Woodrow funeral, it’s going to be a total and utter war crime. She’s staying here, and she’s going to be fine, so suck it up!”

Klarisse angrily hung up. She threw her phone onto the couch and sat down.

Bell creaked open the bedroom door and poked her head out.

“Klarisse? What’s going on?” she asked her.

“Oh. There you are, Bell” Klarisse sighed. She had her chin in the palms of her paws. “Mom called me today, she wants me to go back to Oakland for the weekend”

“What happened?” Bell asked her. She curiously tilted her head and sat down on the sofa.

“.......Dad, no, wait why am I still calling him that, _Vincent_ killed himself this morning” the older girl broke the hard news. Her expression didn’t change at all. “Apparently the asshole wasn’t paying child support AGAIN and knew his ass was in trouble if he went to jail, so”

“Wait you mean like prison rape?” Bell was still confused. 

Klarisse facepalmed and shook her head in disappointment

“No, Bell, NOT like prison rape! Get your mind out of the gutter. But yeah, Mom told me that I _have_ to be at the funeral.” 

“So what am I gonna do until then?” Bell asked her.

Klarisse shrugged a little

“You’re old enough that I can just leave you here, but I’m gonna ask Amelie to come by so she can watch the place while I'm gone.”

\----

January 26

12:05 PM

Bell quietly poked at her lunch with her fork. The rigatoni pasta was drenched in some sort of cream based sauce. Chunks of meat popped out from the dish before her. She frowned a bit as she prodded at the food before her. Everyone else was still eating their lunch. 

“What’s wrong, Bell?” Benjamin asked his friend.

The beaver looked away from everybody. 

“It’s nothing” she sounded apathetic. “It’s just that Klarisse’s dad killed himself this week and I don’t know exactly how the hell I’m _supposed_ to feel”

“That sucks?” Ponce patted her on the back.

“Yeah. Oh, by the way, Bell, the school got a new therapist in.” Chris said as he sent a link to Bell.

“Therapy? I don’t know, y’all….” Bell finally took a bite from her lunch. “Ain’t that stuff expensive as hell?”

“Trust me, Bell” Toshi pointed out. He was in the middle of writing a letter in his pink and yellow Peeky Pika notebook. “The school can afford it, and it's a good idea”

\----

January 27 

10:05 AM

“Is this really necessary?” Bell thought to herself as she took a seat in the hallway. It was nice to be excused from class, at least. Appalachian History was kinda boring right now, it was just about some disease named after a brand of beer. The black chair was mildly comfortable. Fuck. Bell forgot her phone back in class. To kill some time, she took a look at the digital bulletin board in front of her--

“Valentine’s Day Dance Coming Soon”

Ugh. Bell thought this mushy sugary stuff would saved for _high school_. Maybe she could just skip it and hang out with Francis instead. Hopefully she could do literally anything else that weekend. Hell maybe a Mon Uni basketball game would be more fun to go to. She just hoped they suddenly didn’t cancel it the day before their big match.

“Be Part of the Pondovadia Wave! Join any Club Today!”

Bell thought THIS one was particularly pointless, since everybody was already required to sign up for a club in the first week of school. I guess it’s for the new students who suddenly moved in the middle of the year, she thought.

She looked over at the last thing on the billboard. It was a hastily done drawing of a red unicorn against a black background. The unicorn was impaling a bear with its horn. Chicken-scratch writing was scrawled underneath.

“MYTHICALS DO NOT FORGIVE, AND THEY DO NOT FORGET”

Hmm…. Bell squinted as she carefully read the writing. But who would have written this...MOST eighth graders were too self absorbed and caring about being ‘ironic’, most sixth graders don’t know about the mythical conflict, so perhaps a seventh grader? No wait. Maybe this was Aster's cousin who did this...

The beaver leaned into the wall and listened in on a heavy conversation.

“I don’t get it, Dr. Jon. She’s still a teacher even after everything she did to me!”  
“It’s very unfortunate, Christopher. Too many animals bend the law in their own gain. But no matter what happens or what other animals say, it wasn’t your fault and it never will be.”

“But-- but I’m a guy! And she’s a woman.”

“And? She’s still an adult using a minor for her own advantage. Anyone who blames you has their mind stuck in the twenty-first century”

“....Thanks, Dr. Jon. Can I come back next month?”  
“Of course. Take a sticker with you”

The door creaked open. Bell looked away so she wouldn’t look the other student in his eyes. 

She walked into the comfortable office and sat down on the white chaise lounge. She looked on the brown desk-- a nice bronze tag labeled ‘Dr. Jon’. There was a bowl of stickers next to the tag. Dr. Jon, a towering black and grey maine coon cat, was already at the desk. He was wearing a comfortable yellow shirt and black pants.

“Good morning Bell,” Jon greeted her. “What seems to be the problem today?”

The beaver looked up and crossed her hands across her stomach.

“Well, doctor, I’ve thought about changing my last name, but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea.”

“Hm, and why is that? What’s the root of all this?” the cat therapist continued to listen in as he wrote on his tablet. 

Bell gulped and looked around. Good, it was just the two of them in this room. NOW she could let the rest of her emotions out. She took a deep breath in

“Well, my dad killed himself this week and-- no wait, he’s not even my dad, he’s just some guy named Vincent that my mom married years before I just had to be born”

“Hm, I see” Jon kept taking notes. “So what _is_ he to you then?”

“Honestly?” Bell ranted. “He’s just an alcoholic jerk who gave me nothing but his last name. The guy’s just pushed me out of the way, cheated on my mom multiple times yet blew up the ONE time she had an affair, and never had anything nice to say about anybody. There’s a damn good reason Klarisse took over raising me in the first place. This is normal, right?”

Jon finished writing his notes.

“Well, yes, a lot of animals do change their last names after a parental divorce. But usually we see this happen in high school or university. You said that Klarisse is your guardian. What is she to you?” he asked her.

“Just my sister” Bell still had her paws clasped together. “Well, not even that. We’re only half sisters and I'm worried that won't make us siblings anymore”

“You still share a parent. She’s still your sister no matter what’ Jon reassured her. “Did you tell her this, by the way?”

“I. Well, no, I didn’t.” Bell sighed. “She’s been so busy with classes AND packing for the weekend that I didn’t tell her a damn thing about wanting to change my last name.”

“Hm. So what _were_ you thinking of changing your last name to?” the tomcat raised an eyebrow. 

“Honestly I was thinkin’ Canandendrum” Bell explained. “Y’all probably already knew this from the records, but Mayor Canadendrum’s my dad, and he’s shown me more kindness in one week than fucking Vincent ever could in the twelve years I’ve been ALIVE”

“I see...” Tom finished his notes for now. “Tell you what, I think it’d be a good idea to talk to Klarisse about this. I must warn you though, changing your last name isn’t as easy as you think. Take a sticker with you”

“Thanks, Dr. Jon” Bell got up from the chaise lounge. She grabbed a black and blue star sticker from the sticker bowl and shoved it in her pocket before leaving the office and heading back to class. Fortunately she didn't miss much in her class, just a review session for an upcoming test.

\----

January 28

3:10 PM

Bell unlocked the door. She walked inside her apartment. The area was strangely empty. No music playing on the stereo, no coffee machine running. That’s…..odd. The girl walked into her bedroom and unpacked her belongings. The only thing she heard was some water running. Hm?

The bathroom door opened up. Bell set her empty backpack down and grabbed a can of pepper spray. She poked her head out of the room and watched the animal leave the bathroom. False alarm-- just Amelie. Wait. Amelie?!

Bell walked outside.  
“Oh, hey Amelie” she waved to her.

“Hi Bell! I didn’t think you’d be home so early” the lemur happily greeted her. Instead of her usual cafe uniform, Amelie was wearing a pink sleeveless sweater, red sweatpants and white fuzzy slippers. She was wearing contacts instead of glasses.  
“Klarisse told me to keep the fort down for the weekend! So, how was school?”

“Could be better” Bell walked to the fridge and grabbed a glass of water. “Well, it’s kinda boring right now. The hockey team doesn’t play in spring, Ponce is at his dad's workplace for dinner, and Toshi's busy babysitting the gopher kids upstairs”

“Oof” Amelie frowned a little. “Tell you what, let’s just get some takeout tonight and put on a movie or two. So what are you thinking for dinner?”

Bell chugged her glass of water before setting the blue glass into the sink. She hollered to her  
"Indian sounds good!"

"I gotcha!" the lemur hollered back as she looked at a menu. "I'm getting korma and samosas, by the way!"

\----

January 29

1:05 PM

Klarisse slowly walked into the funeral home. She was wearing an all-black ensemble of a long-sleeved blouse, dress pants, ankle booties, and a cardigan. Her hair was tied in an elegant French braid. The young woman tightly held onto her minitaure black backpack. She heard harsh whispers from some of the other animals. 

“How inappropriate…”  
“What would Vincent even THINK of this shameless display?!”  
“That city’s turned her into such a disrespectful animal…”

The beaver felt somebody tap her on the shoulder. She turned around to face the animal in question-- a short white mouse with wispy black hair. Probably one of Vincent’s little fuckbuddies, judging by the tired look in her eyes. The mouse sneered at her

“You do know that you’re supposed to wear a dress to a funeral. _Right_?”

“Oh. I’m _sorry_ ” Klarisse went passive aggressive. “These were the only black clothes I had on me. And besides, it’s too cold for a dress. Would you rather I show up in anything else besides black?”

“.......Fine.” the mouse huffed. She sat back down with her nose up high. 

Klarisse took a seat next to the only other beaver in the crowd. 

“Hey mom” she whispered to her.

“Oh, hello Klarisse” the older beaver pulled her into a quick hug.

“Mom? Why’d you come here? I thought you hated dad” her daughter hushed to her.

Alice looked away and whispered back to her. “I do. I just came to spit on his grave”

“Couldn’t you just wait until _after_ the funeral to do that?” Klarisse asked her.

"It'll be more satisfying to watch things go down" Alice argued back.

The room went silent. A white and brown Syrian hamster walked up to the podium next to the brown closed casket. He cleared his throat before speaking.

“We gather here today to commemorate the life of Vincent Woodrow. It’s a shame really. Only forty years old and he’s been taken from us all. I remember back when he first got married. A rushed marriage, yes, but still a marriage nonetheless AND one less illegitimate kid on the streets. Vincent was a loving man. He had love for many women in his life”

Klarisse snarked under her breath, causing Alice to chuckle a little. “Getting your dick wet with other women doesn’t sound like love to me”

The hamster continued his speech

“It’s a shame how Vincent carried on. Yes he drank and lusted and had a hunger for power, and he became known to more and more animals outside of Oakland. But in the end, he just had to go. Would anyone else like to say anything about Vincent?”

The funeral home door swung wide open. Everybody turned around to face the screaming intruder.

“I do!”

A pale yellow squirrel was standing there with a menacing snarl. Her dirty blond hair was a mess and she was wearing an oversized white shirt and black leggings.

“I want to know why the heck he didn’t invite ME!” the squirrel hollered.

Klarisse stood up in seething fury. She whispered to Alice

“Mom, I think you should go home. I’ll handle this”

Alice nodded and snuck outside back to her home. 

She glared back at the sudden intruder.

“Get the fuck out of here, Serena!” Klarisse shoved the squirrel outside. “Have some respect!”

“Oh really? The class retard wants to talk about respect?” Serena scoffed. “Look at you! You’re not even wearing a dress to your own father’s funeral!”

“Neither are you,” the brunette beaver snarked back. “Besides, what are you doing here in the first place?!”

“I came to get my last child support check. Duhhhh.” Serena sneered as she pushed herself inside. She stomped towards Vincent’s casket. “Hell forbid I want my kid to have a good life, even if he’s a dumb little mutt”

“You made MY life a living hell! Who the fuck are you to talk about giving other animals a good life” Klarisse shouted. Her fists trembled as she lashed out at the classmate-turned-intruder  
“Did you forget that you and your cunty little friends are the reason I tried to kill myself years ago? By the way, how’s the failed leggings pitch working out?”

The squirrel rolled her eyes. 

“Um, unlike YOU, I moved on from high school! When will you?”

“That’s IT” Klarisse screamed as she grabbed the squirrel by her shirt collar in one hand. She shoved Serena onto the floor. “I have to go.”

  
“Go where? Finally gonna go off yourself?” Serena scoffed. “Two Woodrow funerals in one week would be _very_ exciting for all of Oakland”

“No.” Klarisse shook her head as she slowly walked down the room. “I’m going back to Pondovadia, with my half-sister who’s the mayor’s illegitimate daughter, get my creative writing degree, maybe peg my girlfriend. Also, she's _a lemur_. Hell, maybe even have some chimera kids when I finish university. Maybe have a job and not gold dig. Have fun with your miserable kid, overpriced China sweatshop leggings that nobody will buy, dead boyfriend AND no high school degree!”

She grabbed a flag post from nearby the door. Klarisse carefully removed the West Virginia flag before folding it and setting it on a nearby table.

Serena ran up to her screaming. Klarisse calmly whacked her on the head with the cold metal pole. Everyone coldly stared at her.

“Have fun, everyone! I’ll be back for the next Woodrow funeral!~” she waved before leaving the funeral home with confidence. She slammed the door shut.

Several animals stood up and shouted at each other inside the funeral home.

“Vincent didn’t pay child support?!”  
“He had multiple half breed kids?!”  
"At least he's not a slut like Alice is...."  
“Yeah... BUT his daughter’s dating an animal of another species?! How shameful”  
“A lemur?! But-- but that’s a primate! That aint a damned rodent at all!”  
“I knew it! I knew Vincent shouldn’t have married that skank Alice if their kid was gonna turn out like this!”  
"Yeah but they were high schoolers! And be grateful Klarisse turned out legitimate AND wasn't aborted!"  
"Oh shut the FUCK up!"

The black-haired mouse punched the Syrian hamster in the neck. He retaliated by punting her in the stomach.

Several other animals clawed at each other without mercy. Some of them bit friends-turned-foes in the neck while Serena crouched behind the casket. She ripped some of the flowers off and flipped the open casket over. Some animals looked over and stopped fighting as Vincent’s body tumbled down the stairs. The wound in his head was still fresh and bright red. His plain grey suit was neatly pressed but got dust on it. 

A bright pink naked mole rat fell onto the corpse as a brown rat shoved him down. They clawed at each other's throats and tumbled away from the body. Two grey voles beat a dark brown porcupine’s head with the flag pole while a marmot stabbed the mouse with some broken glass.

Klarisse ran back into her car and headed straight for the highway. Can’t have charges pressed against you if your DNA isn’t at the scene!

\----

5:30 PM

Klarisse stormed back inside the apartment complex after unlocking the door. She saw Amelie and Bell making some drinks together in the kitchen.

The lemur waved from the countertop as she poured some margarita mix into the blender  
“Heyyyy Klarisse! We're making drinks right now You want vodka, tequila, or rum in yours?”

The older beaver sighed as she sat down on the couch

“Rum is fine, thanks. I had a long day.” 

“What happened?” Bell asked her as she pulled a bag of ice out of the refrigerator. The middle schooler pulled a handful of ice out and tossed it in the blender.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Just that the whole funeral turned into a damn riot” Klarisse deadpanned as she pulled a blue and gold blanket over herself. She kicked her shoes off near the door. “I swear, the animals in Oakland get stupider by the year.”

Amelie walked over to the couch and sat down next to her friend. Her long striped tail curled around the edge of the sofa.

“Well at least you made it here!” she cheerfully assured her. “Oh, and by the way, Bell and I had a good time!”

“Yeah!” Bell shouted back to the older girls as she added some lime juice to the blender. “We had Indian and watched some basketball and Mon Uni won! I think they’re even gonna make it to March Madness this year!”

“That’s….. That’s nice to know” Klarisse sighed as she rubbed her head against the sofa pillows. She whispered to Amelie

“You didn’t give Bell any alcohol, did you?”

“Of course not!” Amelie whispered back. “I’m not **that** stupid!”

\----

February 1

8:45 AM

Bell pulled some colorful flash drives out of her locker and shoved them into her backpack.  
  


“Bell!”

She turned around. Huh? Who the heck is calling for her?

“Bellllll”

The same voice called out to her again!

Bell ignored everything and went back to rummaging through her pile of stuff. Okay good, she got flash drives. Cables for charging her tech, yep. Laptop in the bag. 

She turned around and saw another student galloping to her. Maroon hair in a braid, plaid clothes, gold fur. Oh, it was just Jennifer!

The donkey grabbed Bell by the arm and called to her  
"Bell! You're okay!"

The beaver was confused. "Jennifer? Wait, what do y'all mean by okay?"

Jennifer explained herself as she looked away  
"Oh! Well, I heard 'bout the fight at that funeral from my ma! She told me two animals died there"

"That thing? Nah, I didn't go. Klarisse said it was a bad idea for me to be there" Bell shook her head. "What did y'all hear about it?"

"Well...." Jennifer shrugged and pulled up a link on her apple-print phone. " So 'parently it was over child support?"

"That's......that's stupid" Bell sounded bitter. "I mean, if nobody wanted a fight at that funeral, then maybe whoever started it shouldn't have called my sister a retard. But yeah, thanks for checkin' on me Jennifer"

'It's no problem" the donkey nodded. She adjusted her backpack. 

\--

12:05 PM

  
Toshi finally finished his letter.

"Hey Frederick! Things are great at Southwest Middle here! There might be a school dance coming up soon! Well we're not sure exactly what we're doing yet, or if we're even going in the first place, but it'd be fun if you'd come along and see even more of Pondovadia with us!

Toshi"


	4. How Much can I take Just to Reach You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The big school dance is coming up, but trouble lurks for Frederick...

February 8

9:35 AM

The speakers crackled through the floors of Southwest Middle. Most students stopped to hear what was going on.

“Attention all Meteors” Ray cheerfully announced. “This Friday is our annual Valentine’s Day dance! It’ll be this Friday at six-thirty and will be located in the gym. Volunteers are encouraged to come help decorate after school, but not mandatory. Also the culinary club will be selling candy grams for anyone who wants to surprise that special someone with a little sweetness before the dance. Just one dollar!”

12:05 PM

“Really? A Valentine’s Day dance?” Bell frowned. She wrinkled her nose and cringed. “That’s high school level stuff. What’s the point of it NOW?”

Sandyna skipped to the lunch table

“Heyyyyyy!” she waved. “Soooo, Bell! Like, Tabitha totally wants to know if you’ll go to that dance with her!~”

“Oh?” Bell turned around. She shrugged

“Sure! Y’all tell her I’ll be there”

“Woohoo!” Sandyna excitedly jumped up. The puppy skipped back to her table. She hollered to her friends

“Guess whaaaaaaat! She said yes!!!”

The rest of the aesthetic club squealed in excitement. 

“What suit do you think she’s gonna wear? I bet on red.” Keira asked.

Leila shrugged “Keira? How do you know she’s gonna wear a suit?”

“Because she wore a button-up to picture day this year?” the rhino pointed to one of the sixth grade pages on the virtual yearbook. 

Tabitha sighed and placed her chin in her paws. Her face was getting red.

“The suit isn’t important, you two! All I care about is that she said yes”

Back at Bell’s table…

Toshi snarked as he finished another letter to Frederick

“So suddenly, the school dance ISN’T pointless if Tabitha asks you?”

Bell got flustered

“It’s not like THAT, Toshi! I’d just feel like a dick if I said no!”

“Suuuuuure” Toshi winked and nudged her upper arm. 

“It’s not a big deal. So what if she asked me out?” Bell shrugged.

Ponce laughed a bit as he eyed up Toshi  
“You’re the first one of us to even get asked out. Or ask anyone out.”

“If we don’t get dates, you know we could just go with each other?” Chris shrugged. “Like a prom-posse! Well, that’s what my cousin Sean said. When dudes at prom don’t get dates, they just prom-posse together and fuck shit up!”

“That’s. That’s actually not a bad idea!” Benjamin’s eyes lit up. “Who needs girls, am I right?”

Meanwhile, at Allegory Academy…

Frederick sat at his table and focused on reading for an upcoming history test-- how every century in the human era had a prominent pandemic that would cause a cultural reset. He tried to focus on the Spanish Flu.

Smoke blew in his face. The bear violently coughed from the artificial cotton candy taste stinging his nose and mouth. His glasses fogged up as a few girls giggled near him. He wiped his glasses with a blue and yellow microfiber cloth. Frederick turned around and roared at them

“Emilia, do you MIND?!”

“Oops! Sorrrrry, I didn’t see you there!~” the light green dragon giggled in her obnoxiously plastic voice. 

Three other girls, a pale yellow griffin, a snow white kitsune, and a pale purple hippocampus, laughed in amusement.

“Sure. You didn’t see me here” Frederick deadpanned and shook his head. He coughed again, causing the other animals behind Emilia to giggle even louder. 

“That was SO ironic” the kitsune laughed. “Hey look Emilia, there’s some seventh graders! I think Opal has asthma, we should see what SHE thinks of this flavor next!”

“Okay, Aphenia!” Emilia cheerfully laughed. “I don’t have time left for fleabags anyways!~”

The four girls stormed off somewhere else, blowing more colorful smoke in other animals’ faces and laughing from their reactions. One of the other students, an iridescent wyvern, was coughing for her life. 

Frederick angrily stabbed his book with his pencil. These bitches need to get detention already, he thought to himself!

At Northeast Middle…

“You guys! You guys!” Leopold hollered as he ran up to the group of animals by the basketball court. He panted hard after he stopped running. “I got bad news!”

“Eyyy what’s up?” Darwin asked him as he adjusted his sunglasses in the mirror.

“It’s the school dance this Friday” the Chesapeake retriever sadly explained to him. “We can’t just posse it”

“The, er, fuck do ya MEAN we can’t posse?!” Francis hollered as he shook Leopold by the shoulders. “Leopold, EXPLAIN YAHSELF!!”

“Alright, alright, calm your ass down” the dog held his paws up. “Look, the school dance just changed their policy today”

He pulled out his phone and showed everybody the social media post.

“NORTHEAST ROCK A ROONIN POPPIN VALENTINE’S DANCE UPDATE: All students who choose to attend MUST show up with an  _ appropriate _ date. Friends and staggers NOT welcomed, and any student who breaks these rules will be forcibly removed from the premise.-- northeastpondovadiamiddleschool ( ✓ )”

All the guys groaned as they read the bad news. 

“I was gonna, er, get us all matchin’ suits n boots!” Darwin hollered. “It’d be the best, er ah, prom-posse evah!”

“Y’ah tellin me” Francis sounded more furious than ever. “We need DATES?! Where the hell are we gonna get one a those ‘round here?!”

“Have y’all tried the Turkish store in the southern half? They have dates there” Johnny pointed out.

Francis facepalmed

“Not THAT kindah date, Johnny boy! Like, girl dates! Cuz apparently goin’ with pals don’t count as a date to the system!”

\---

February 9

3:15 PM

Tabitha looked in the mirror and twirled happily. She was wearing a plain dark forest green knee-length dress with sheer sleeves and a halterneck, along with opaque green tights. The cat tucked two white flowers behind both ears.

“How’s this look?” she asked her friends as she held up the hem of the skirt.

“It’d look better with shoes” Violet deadpanned as she sat on the ottoman in the corner.

“I know THAT part, Violet” Tabitha laughed a bit as she let the hem down to her knees. “I meant the dress”

“Oooo, I know!~” Sandyna perked up as she picked up some flowers from the basket inside the dressing room. The puppy cheerfully tossed the fake flowers into the air

“More flowers! I think a flower crown would be SOOOOO cute!~ Oh, and we should, like, save some for Bell! Put one in her hair AND her suit!~”

“Maybe you should add some embroidery to the hem!” Leila lifted up part of the skirt. “I think something light colored would help contrast all the darkness”

“Yeah, but I don’t have time to sew this week, Leila” Tabitha groaned. “What about a petticoat? Would that make it look better?”

Keira got out a tape measure

“Yeah, but those things are overpriced. And besides, the school is overheated in the winter. So, no”

On another floor in the same department store…

“Do y’all  **REALLY** think this looks good?!” 

Bell asked her friends as she stepped outside from the billowing black curtains. The beaver wore a bright orange suit jacket with a pink trimmed collar, a white button-up shirt underneath, matching pants with pink trim at the ankles, a red necktie, and black and white high-top sneakers.

“Well I tell y’all what, I thought it’d look better with some dang ol cowboy boots” Robby shrugged. He tossed a white flower to her. “And y’all should wear that in the jacket part”

Benjamin shook his head

“You got it WRONG again, Robby! She needs sneakers so she can match our posse!”

Aster walked back to the group while carrying a pile of several tuxedos. 

“How’d it turn out?!” he yelled to the group

“Turned out great!” Bell waved as she twirled in front of the mirror. “I’m getting it, yall!”

Beatrice stomped over and yelled. She was wearing an extremely short dress that barely covered her upper thighs

“Robby, I thought I told you to stay with ME”

“No the hell y’all didn’t” the older twin said without a care. “And besides y’all look like a trashy ass college kid in that”

“Oh, whatever” Beatrice rolled her eyes. “I’m trying to look more mature for MY date, something none of you idiots can get, so HA!”

She stormed off with her chin high in the air. 

Everyone else was silent as they looked at each other. Aster set the tuxedos down on the coffee table while Bell looked at herself in the mirror. She adjusted the tie so it was neatly tucked behind the jacket. 

“Let me guess, some jerkoff mongoose from another school” Ponce said once Beatrice was out of sight. He gritted his teeth slightly from the rude encounter.

“How’d yall know exactly that?” Robby’s ears perked up in curiosity.

“Trust me” Ponce explained to him and gritted his teeth. “Animals like her  **only** date the same species if they can. And since you two are the only mongooses in our entire school, she was so desperate for a same-species date she ran off to another school”

“I thought she wanted to brag about having a date like the tryhard she is” Toshi shrugged. 

“That too” Bell pointed out. 

\---

February 10

2:15 PM

The speakers squeaked as they turned on.

“Attention students. Emilia Aries, Roxillian Taurus, Lorian Gemini, and Aphenia Cancer. Please report to the dean’s office immediately!”

“Ooooooo” the students gasped in excitement from what was going on. Frederick kept quiet while he focused on his work.

The four girls grimaced as they stormed into the dean’s office. The room was small and cramped. Monteau had his paws folded together and a cold look on his face.

“Sit down. Now”

Emilia sat down first and crossed her legs.

“What is it?!”

She rolled her eyes while her friends got seated as well

The jackalope glared at his students before breaking into a fiery rant

“.....A student yesterday informed me you four nearly murdered a fellow student. You’re all getting in-school suspension for a week AND two weeks of detention. What were you kids THINKING. It’s one thing for all of you to smoke while underage, but attempting to murder a classmate?!”

“Um, Principal Monteau” Roxillian, the hippocampus, objected. “You’re acting like a commoner. It’s just a dumb prank”

“....I am NOT acting like a commoner” Monteau facepalmed. “It’s one thing for you four to try to kill off a commoner, but you can’t just go around hurting other mythicals. You’ll make the rest of us look bad! Don’t you care about our chances for the upcoming election?”

“Hey!” Aphenia, the kitsune, complained. “Wait a minute, who snitched on us though? Shouldn’t he get detention too?!”

“No?” the jackalope shook his head. “He did the right thing informing us of your little ‘prank.’ I must commend him for that. But you four WILL face punishment”

The girls furiously glared at each other. Fucking Frederick!

\---

February 11

6:40 PM

“Sir, please! My date’s just late! Lemme in already!” Francis begged with mercy. 

“No date, no ticket. Now beat it”

The otter callously kicked the armadillo out and locked the door shut. Pink and white heart shaped banners flapped in the wind.

“What does jerking off have ta do with any o this?” The armadillo thought to himself.

Francis sat outside on the middle school steps. His black and pink tuxedo was slightly torn up and his heavy black boots pressed against the greying snow. He twirled the red rose in his paw and sighed. His pompadour was slightly flattened. This was the most pointless night of his life...

His phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the cracked screen.

“Y’all wanna come down here to Southwest? My bros have been DYING to meet y’all-- Lady Canadendrum”

The armadillo smiled a little. Finally, a beacon of light. He immediately typed back.

“Course I'm gonna skedaddle my ass ovah there! The bros will NOT be disappointed!-- ya boi Pastello”

He threw the rose down and stormed off to one of the school subways. Fortunately for him, the Southwest line was still running at this hour.

Inside the Northeast Middle gym…

The gymnasium was decorated from head to toe in colorful red and white decorations. Balloons pressed against the ceiling while streamers and confetti decorated the shiny vinyl floors. Several tables were set up with bright red fruit punch, sparkling clear water and several kinds of desserts displayed ever so carefully. Most of the guys sat on one side of the bleachers while the girls crowded around on the other side.

“Ey, where’s our boy Francis at?” Darwin asked his friend as they sat together on the left side of the bleachers.

The buck shrugged

“I wish I knew! Last I heard he couldn’t get no date so they kicked his ass to the curb. Hey, where’s y’all’s dates at?”

“In tha girl’s bathroom I think” Darwin pointed at the pink door. 

Inside the girls’ bathroom…

Beatrice washed her paws. Her hair was in a ratty perm and her face was caked in makeup. The mongoose wore an extremely short two-piece maroon strapless dress, six-inch tall stiletto heels and a tacky garter that matched her dress. It was a miracle she didn’t trip on her own feet. She sneered at the other animal next to her.

“Ewwww, you’re wearing a suit?”

The other girl, a pretty green parrot with a bright red beak and dark teal cornrows tied in low pigtails, looked down in embarrassment. Her friends told her the baby blue suit looked adorable!

“Um….uhh…..” the parrot stammered. Her eyes twitched and she felt herself tear up.

The parrot looked at herself in the mirror. Her face didn’t look messed up, did it?! No, she looked fine. Keep it together, Safira, she thought to herself.

“That’s  _ weird _ . In MY school,  _ normal _ girls don’t wear suits to dances” Beatrice shook her head and finished drying off her paws with the cheap white paper towels. 

“I should’ve stayed home if I knew this weirdness would happen HERE” the mongoose thought to herself as she stormed outside into the gymnasium. 

She walked over to the boys’ side and approached the black mongoose sitting on the bottom bleacher row. He was wearing a plain grey suit with a red flower tucked into his lapel and scuffed up brown shoes. His hair was short and curly.

“Look, Corbin. Are we FINALLY going to dance or what?” Beatrice scoffed at her date.

Corbin sighed and looked away as he adjusted his hair to look right

“Sure, whatever.”

He grimaced as he was forcefully pulled onto the dance floor. The DJ, a black and blue horse wearing a backwards baseball cap, pulled up an energetic dance mix and blasted it through the middle school. 

Beatrice awkwardly stood in the middle of the dance floor. All eyes were on her as the DJ continued playing music.

  
“Hey!” She growled at the DJ. “Play something you hear at the club!”

The horse DJ rolled his eyes but fulfilled the request anyways. He looked for the raunchiest song possible he could play at a middle school dance. Half the lyrics were bleeped out or replaced with some poorly edited cuts, but who cares, he was getting paid by the school. 

_ “This bad b takes it hard _ _   
_ _ This bad b took it HARD _ _   
_ _ Where I take it? It stinks! _ _   
_ _ Yeah, it stinks stinks stinks _

_ Yeah I spit, yeah I spit spit spit _

_ Spittin on my man in a stink _

_ Call me that white queen _

_ Yeah the white queen be a white queen” _

Beatrice did a quick split in the air before channeling her inner ‘drunk college girl at a nightclub’. Most of the guys stared awkwardly while several girls joined her in the middle of the floor. 

“Tryhards” Darwin quipped as he watched the clubbing.

“Tell me bout it” Johnny agreed. 

Corbin walked away and ran towards the boys’ bathroom. The pounding bass relentlessly hit his ears. 

_ “This good girl dont like it on top _

_ No a good girl dont get on top _

_ Get a freak down, freak down _

_ Good girls dont get on top” _

He angrily scrubbed the unscented soap against his hands. 

“So, where’s your date at?” another animal, a slate grey pitbull, asked him as he also washed his hands.

Corbin rolled his eyes

“Nowhere important, Blake, just turning the dance into a nightclub. Honestly, I only went with her because I HAD to get a date for this stupid dance”

“Geez, that sucks” Blake said as he finished washing his hands. “I didn’t want to go either but my friends begged me to, so I just asked out some eighth grader.”

\----

6:50 PM

The Southwest gym was carefully decorated for the big event. Some girls crowded around the punch line while other students sat on the bleachers. A few animals danced to themselves. Bell and her friends told each other stories as they stuck together. Ponce left in the middle of a story to grab some punch.

“And I told the client, don’t stick your dick in crazy and this wouldn’t have happened!” Benjamin finished his tale. “And that’s why my dad won’t let me into his office anymore”

Some of the kids laughed. Toshi turned around to see the door swing wide open. Oh no, what did Frederick do NOW?!

“Get back here, you snitch!” a high pitched voice yelled

Frederick panicked and ran into the gymnasium. He pushed some seventh graders out of the way and grabbed Toshi by the sleeve of his suit.

“Guys! You gotta help me!”

Ponce walked back to the group with two cups of punch.

“Frederick? What’s going on?” he asked.

“They’re coming for me….” the bear frantically looked around the room before he hid behind Toshi. 

“Who’s coming for y’all?” Bell asked as she grabbed a cup of punch from Ponce’s hand. She chugged the whole drink in one sitting and tossed the red cup into the recycling panel on the wall.

The windows broke. Four mythical girls in matching uniforms crawled through the shattered hole and leaped down onto the floor. A light green dragon with familiar fuchsia hair led the rest of the intruders inside. Some of the girls ran into the girls’ bathroom while other animals hid under the bleachers.

“There you are, you little shit!” Emilia hollered as she charged towards Frederick. The other four mythicals followed suit. Frederick yelped and ran behind Bell instead.

Bell glared at the dragon before her. The beaver slid across the floor and blocked Frederick with her right arm

“What the fuck are y’all doing at our dance!”

Emilia scoffed

“Um, we’re here for revenge? Duh. Your snitch of a friend tattled on us and got all five of us detention for a week, for no reason!”

The bear furiously roared back

“No reason?! You blew smoke in my face and made me throw up! AND you nearly killed another classmate”

“So?” Emilia scoffed. She pulled a bright yellow vape pen out of her pocket and took a puff.

“SO?!” Bell grabbed Emilia by the uniform collar and hollered at her. “Don’t you care about other animals besides yourself?!”

“Um, no?” Emilia shrugged. She pushed Bell’s hands off of her and pointed in her face.    
“And you should stay out of mythicals’ business, okay sweetie?”

Toshi facepalmed and yelled as he shook his head in disapproval

“You crashed into OUR school and you’re telling us to stay out? Real mature”

“Hey shut up!” the light yellow griffin screamed at the ferret. She pointed at Bell

“You, the bastard. Give us the fleabag and nobody gets hurt”

“I don’t think so. And the name’s not ‘the bastard’” Bell shook her head.

She shoved the griffin away from her and did a backflip. Just before landing on her feet, she effortlessly yanked down the disco ball and swung it around like a flail. She glared at the mythicals before tossing the ball to Toshi, who caught it with his tail. 

“The name’s Isabell Canadendrum. Now get the FUCK out of our school!”

Ponce grabbed an unfolded folding chair from the corner while Toshi swung the disco ball around like a lasso.

Some students backed away from the dance floor and huddled onto the bleachers. Others hid inside the bathrooms and even more animals hid behind the bleachers.

“Fuck them UP! Fuck them up! Fuck them up!” a few of the male students started to chant in excitement. 

Tabitha walked out of the girls’ bathroom. She took a look around at her surroundings-- the music wasn’t playing, most of the students on the bleachers, Bell and her closest friends facing off several unknown animals in matching uniforms….. Oh great.

“Bell?!” she shouted as she ran to her date. “What’s going on!? Who-- just WHO are these intruders?!”

“Mythicals” Bell groaned as she glanced away from the cat. “They crashed our dance because they got detention at THEIR school.”

Tabitha grabbed one of Bell’s hands and held it tightly

“Is that so? In that case,  _ let’s dance _ ”

“Hell yeah”

Bell pulled Tabitha to her side and glared at the enraged dragon.

Emilia screamed as she came charging for the duo. Tabitha leaped to the left side while Bell spun to the right and slapped Emilia with her tail. Emilia ricocheted backwards from the sudden impact.

The dragon’s boots skidded against the vinyl floor. She held her right hand up and summoned a small ball of fire. She screamed before she threw the flame at her opponents.

Ponce slided over and threw his two cups of punch at the fire. The flames were suddenly extinguished and the punch fell across the floor, leaving everything in its wake sticky.

Tabitha grabbed the bowl of punch and threw the contents at the griffin. 

“My uniform! You fleabags won’t get out of this unscatched!”

She screeched and charged for the cat, but was stopped by Tabitha slamming her foe’s head with the punch bowl. It was enough to knock her out yet the glass didn’t shatter everywhere.

Frederick backed away as the kitsune and hippocampus surrounded him.

Ponce lifted Toshi up bridal style and spun him around. The ferret leaped out of his friend’s arms and lassoed the disco ball around the kitsune before pulling her onto the ground. She fell hard against the floor.

“Come on, Frederick~” the hippocampus winked at him and held his hands. She looked away from the fights surrounding her

“Your friends may be complete and utter brutes, but you wouldn’t want to see me get hurt too, no?”

“Actually,  _ Roxillian _ ”

Frederick grabbed her by the collar and pinned her to the wall.

“You’re not so innocent yourself! Why should I spare you?!”

Lorian rolled her eyes before she tore the bear a new one

“Because I didn’t blow MY vape smoke anywhere! But I stick for my friends anyways. Yours just leave you behind for their own petty bullshit. Think about it. What would they even--”

Ponce crept up behind the duo and sucker punched Lorian before locking her arms behind her. 

“What the hell?!” She yelled at her attacker

He grabbed both her arms and carried her over his head. The chimera joined Bell and Toshi in throwing the mythicals outside of the gym.

“And STAY OUT!”

Bell hollered before she went back inside. The trio locked the doors with as many folding chairs as they could.

Emilia angrily stormed away from the school with her friends in tow.

“That-- that JERK! He doesn’t get in ANY trouble yet the school treats us like fleabags over a little joke”

“Ugh, tell me about it” Roxillian rolled her eyes. “The dean’s gone soft on that snitch” 

\----

February 15

12:05 PM

“So” Francis pressed his back against the brick wall. “Was that ol dance any, er ah, good?”

“Nah, it sucked on toast” Darwin said as he threw a dart against the red target. “Some jerkoff’s date from another school showed up and caused a racket ass fight”

Francis chugged his bottle of chocolate milk and tossed the empty bottle into the trash can

“Sounds like I skedaddled at the, er, right time. How trashy was it?”

“We’re talkin’ “ripped clothes and thrown outta the dance” trashy” the kangaroo explained to him.


End file.
